IIT-BHU, IIT-Guwahati to start joint doctoral programme

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 29 (IANS): The Indian Institute of Technology-Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) and IIT-Guwahati have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to start a joint doctoral programme.

This will be the first time in the country that two IITs have come together to offer a joint degree programme.

The IIT-BHU spokesman said the idea of a joint PhD programme was originally proposed in the 53rd IIT Council meeting held on September 27, 2019. The vision behind it is to build a ‘network of excellence of all IITs’ rather than each one striving to become a ‘tower of excellence.’

The IIT Council accepted the proposal to start the Joint Degree Programme. It will start from July 2020-21 academic session.

Through this academic collaboration, both the institutes are expecting a significant boost in high quality research and foundation for further academic collaborations.

Considering the National Education Policy (NEP-2020), such educational reform and academic collaborations between the premier educational institutes will promote multidisciplinary academic programmes and research for the knowledge-based economy of the country, said director IIT-BHU Prof Pramod Kumar Jain.

IIT-BHU and IIT-Guwahati are also considering to start a joint MTech programme on the similar lines to provide multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary and MTech programmes.

Maximum 10 students in IIT-BHU and maximum ten research students in IIT-Guwahati will be able to register for research in subjects including engineering, science and humanity. These researchers will have two separate supervisors and also the facility to do research work in both the institutes.

Research students will be awarded joint degrees by both the institutes.

However, it will be compulsory for research students to do at least one year of research work in both institutes.